Snow Set Movie 6: Touching the Void (2003)


It seems unfair for people to not give documentaries the respect that they deserve.  I could be considered one of these people.  Many documentaries are of a very similar structure and this structure begins to wear thin after a short time.  But sometimes you discover one documentary that puts an interesting spin on the structure, or has a story that is gripping enough to allow you to ignore the basic structure.  I wouldn’t say that Touching the Void has the same structure as so many documentaries, but its story is gripping enough that even if the structure is the same, I can ignore that.

Touching the Void is a 2003 documentary about two mountain climbers in Peru who suffer a disastrous situation upon a mountain that had never before been climbed.  It was directed by the same guy who brought us The Last King of Scotland.  It was almost as good, if not better.

The use of recreations throughout the film intertwined with the retelling of what happened by the guys that were on the mountain was an interesting way to tell the story.  I’ve seen a few documentaries try to tell stories in this way and fail.  Much of that is predicated on how well the recreations are presented.  Many times, I have seen amateurish looking recreations.  In Touching the Void the recreations were much more professionally made.

I do have to say that the director, Kevin MacDonald, knows how to convey pain.  Touching the Void hinged upon the pain.  If the pain had not been conveyed in a believable way, the documentary would not have worked.  The pain helped you care for the people that the documentary was about.

The investment I had in the true story that was presented to me was more investment than I’ve had in most documentaries I’ve seen.  I must praise Touching the Void for this.  It is near the top of the documentaries I’ve seen.  I should also reiterate that I haven’t seen many documentaries.

One final thing that I should touch upon was the interesting views that were presented of the mountain in Peru.  Since nobody else has attempted to climb the mountain that the two climbers went up, this was absolutely a different place that we kept seeing the re-enactments.  Nevertheless, the way that the scenes were shot and the different places that were shown was still a wonder to see.

Touching the Void is a gripping documentary that told the story of two men who fought to overcome some of the greatest obstacles that they had ever faced.  It pulled me right in and kept me on the edge of my seat for over an hour and a half.  If you are looking for a real life adventure which has life or death stakes, this documentary is sure to be for you.

This takes me into the second half of my snow set movie marathon.  I have less than two weeks left to watch the final four movies which include The Eiger Sanction, Dreamcatcher, The Shining, and Frozen.  This is going to be interesting, with the holidays coming up.  But I can do it.  I’ll get back to you with the next one.

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